30 Days of THRIVE - Peach Chicken

So I decided to get kinda creative with my 30 days of THRIVE dinner this time. You are gonna love this!!! We did!!  This dinner is only only 4 or 5 ingredients! Awesome right? Right!

 

 

PEACH CHICKEN

What you are gonna need:
THRIVE Freeze Dried Chicken Dices
THRIVE Freeze Dried Peaches
THRIVE Peach Drink Mix
THRIVE Flour
THRIVE Potato Beads
               OR
THRIVE White Rice
(Adjust to fit your serving sizes!!)

1. Rehydrate your chicken. I like to toss them around in the pan before I add the other ingredients to carmalize them a bit!

2. Prepare your side....either the potatoes or the white Rice. Either taste wonderful!

3. Add to your hot pan about 2 cups of water and about 6 Tablespoons of Peach drink mix. (If you are making more just increase these until you like the flavor.) You want the consistency to be thicker than a drink, but thinner than a sauce. Add in peach pieces that you have broken up into smaller chunks. Allow them to rehydrate. Cook the chicken in this for just a couple minutes to allow the flavor to get into the chicken.

4. Once everything smells really good and is getting thicker, thicken it with a little flour, or you can also make a roux with some flour and butter. I thicken it until it is a thin sauce. Pour this mixture over a bed of potatoes or rice. YUM!

 

We also tried this on a bed of greens (baby spinach blend) as a salad!! I must say that this makes a great little salad as well!! No additional dressing needed!!

Whole Wheat Banana Pancake

Ok this pancake was so good! I think this one will become a regular in our house. It's super easy, doesn't use a ton of utensils or bowls, and is healthy!

You Will Need:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs melted coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 ripe banana

Directions:
Dump everything in the blender and turn it on. Run until smooth. My blender is old and pretty burnt out so I had to stop and scrape the sides every once in a while. After the batter is blended let it sit for 5 minutes. In the mean time heat a skillet with cooking spray or if your like me more coconut oil (I highly recommend the coconut oil). Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto greased skillet and cook until the pancake bubbles around edges, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Serve with more sliced bananas, natural peanut butter and agave (what I ate it with) or traditional syrup. Yumm-O! You can find the original recipe here.

MM - Baby Days! Snackage.....

Happy Monday everyone!!!

I don't know about all of you, but snacks make the world go 'round in our household. Once Noah could eat solids, snacks were gold, in fact, this is still the case! My little guy is a super eater and loves meal time. Most of the time we are super busy and snacks fill the gaps for us. So today I thought that I would give you some "food for thought"!

Has anyone tried those yogurt bites that they have in the baby isle? Either the gerber brand or the store brand, to me they taste so weird. Now, have you tried the THRIVE yogurt bites? AMAZING!!!! In my humble opinion, the THRIVE yogurt bites melt easier in the little ones mouth, taste WAY better, and kiddos love them!! Not to mention that they are a ton cheaper! Noah's fav is Strawberry!

The thing I love most about THRIVE foods is that they make the perfect snack right out of the can! The fruits and veggies are awesome for when your little one starts to feed themselves! Try the peas, corn, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mangos, and pears! They are great starter foods and they love the crunch! Noah absolutlely loves the fruits and veggies especially while he is teethin!! The applesauce is also amazing!



What about when they get a little older and goldfish are the bomb.com? Well, I was perusing the THRIVE cookbook the other day and I found this little gem! AMAZING!!! We made a batch this weekend and they were devoured!!!

***I have to add a disclaimer. I don't have an actual picture of the ones that we made this weekend. They were gobbled up rather quickly and I forgot to take a picture in the craziness that happened this weekend. Me and Noah got some burns on saturday as i was cooking. Some hot oil splashed on the both of us. Things have been just a little out of whack ever since then. ***


Photo courtesy of THRIVE Cookbook

Here is what you will need:
1 1/4 Cups TRIVE Flour (Whole wheat or white)
1/2 Cup THRIVE Cheese Blend
1/8 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon THRIVE Salt
3 Tablespoons Oil (I use coconut oil)
1/2 Cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all your dry ingredients. Slowly add oil until the mixture is crumbly. SLOWLY add water until you form a tight dough.
Roll out you dough very thin (they will puff up when they bake) about 1/8 of an inch. Cut into squares or your favorite shape. Poke a hole in the top of them and transfer onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Cool completely before removing them from the pan.
Happy Snackin!

Blueberry Muffin "Cake"

I've been wanting to make blueberry muffins for a while and this week I finally did! Sad to say in the past I usually just used a box to make blueberry muffins. I have been looking for an easy, yummy, and THRIVE friendly recipe for a while and I'm happy to say I found one!

The reason I call it a muffin cake, is because that's how I got Jaxon to eat it :) And it's a thicker consistency.

You will need:

1 cup THRIVE blueberries
2 cups THRIVE flour
1 cup THRIVE quick oats
2/3 cups THRIVE sugar
1 tsp THRIVE baking soda
1 tsp THRIVE baking powder
1/2 tsp THRIVE salt
2 THRIVE eggs
1 1/2 cups greek yogurt
2 Tbs THRIVE honey (prepared)
1/4 c butter melted

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin or spray with cooking spray.
2. Next place 1 cup THRIVE blueberries in a small bowl and add 1 cup of water. Let them soak while you mix the other ingredients.
3. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. If you are using THRIVE egg powder, go ahead and add 2 Tbs to the dry ingredients.
4. In a second bowl mix together yogurt, honey, and melted butter. If you're not using THRIVE eggs add 2 eggs here.
5. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry.
6. Drain the blueberries and add to the batter.
7. Spoon batter into muffin tins and bake for about 20 minutes.
Makes 12 - 24 muffins (mine made 18).

Jaxon ate 2 "cakes" for breakfast, they must be good!

You can find the original recipe here.

Mama Mondays - Flourishing Family

Ok....So I know that I promised everyone an amazing STIR FRY recipe today....but I changed my mind. Here is why. I got to visit with my family this weekend and it reminded me what I LOVE about being a part of a flourishing family! I am gonna start a series every 3rd Monday of the month all about good family recipes! What I remember the most about growing up in my family, is that we homemade most of our food. All of my friends were jealous every time they came over and mom was making homemade bread!!! MMMMMM!!!!!! The whole neighborhood smelled good!

It got me thinking, bread is something that as kids we really depended on for a staple in our diets. No matter how many times my mom made it....and she made it pretty often, we were always excited to eat it!!! I remember that my mom could get us to try anything new, as long as it was accompanied by her yummy bread!!!

Now that I am grown and have my own little family, I love getting to provide the same thing for my family. We love making our own bread! We know exactly what is in it and that it is healthy! So today I am gonna show you just how easy it is to make your own delicious bread! You are excited right?!

Here is what you will need:

4 Tablespoons THRIVE White Sugar

4 Tablespoons Yeast

4 C. Warm Water

4 C. Warm THRIVE Milk

2/3 C. Oil (I love coconut oil!)

3 Tablespoons THRIVE Salt

18 C THRIVE Flour (I use a mixture of

whole wheat and white flour, but you can

 use any type of flour that you like...this is

easily adapted to gluten free with THRIVE rice flour)

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Combine Sugar, yeast and warm water. Let sit for 15 minutes covered with a towel.

Combine milk, oil, salt, and 8 cups of your flour in a separate bowl. Add yeast mixture. Reserve 2 cups of flour to knead with. Slowly add the remainder of your flour.

Grease your pans and set aside.  

Pour dough out onto a floured surface and knead only a few times. (I usually only knead until I can handle the dough quickly without is being sticky) Form into loaves that are roughly ½ the height of your pan.

Put your dough into your pans and sit them on top of the stove. Cover with a towel and allow them to rise to double their size.

Bake @ 425 degrees for 10 minutes

Turn the oven down to 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pull them out of the oven and rub them with butter right away. Let them cool then enjoy!!!

Simple Right!!! It will be a big hit...Promise!!!

 

Anytime we make homemade bread....we have to mix up some of this little gem!

THRIVE Butter

THRIVE Honey crystals

Cinnamon

It tastes like the stuff you get at Texas Roadhouse or Chuck-A-Rama!!! I LOVE it!!!

Happy Monday!!!

 

Cinnamon Bread

I have major issues. I tend to be really spacey, and a procrastinator. Not a good combination. Add in pregnancy brain and it's a disaster. I found myself washing my hair with body wash Sunday. Body wash! I totally dropped the ball last week on posting. Luckily Tiffany is amazing and filled in for me. Then when I went to make my recipe for today's post I was missing the most important ingredient...the Strawberries! My THRIVE shipment should be here any day and there is a can of Strawberries in it just for me and I am so excited! So be on the look out for my next post about Strawberries.

I found this recipe where I find all my recipes these days, Pinterest. I made it for the first time last week for my Father-in-law's birthday. It was so good and easy that I made it again! And once again I have to apologize for the pictures. I don't know what's going on but they uploaded terribly!

You can find the original recipe here.

This bread is easy and delicious and definitely NOT diabetic friendly. It makes two loaves and you will have a hard time not cutting into that second loaf right away.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs (I used fresh the first time, and THRIVE the second and it turned out delicious!)
2 cups buttermilk
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and grease or spray 2 loaf pans.
Cream together the butter, sugar, and eggs.
Mix in buttermilk, flour, and baking soda.
Spread 1/4 of the batter into each loaf pan.
Mix the 2/3 cups sugar and cinnamon together.
Sprinkle 1/3(ish) of cinnamon sugar over batter.
Spread the remaining half of batter in 1/4's again.
Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over batter.
Use a knife to swirl the batter around.
The batter is really thick so it's kind of hard to do and it doesn't look very pretty. Just kind of spread it out when you're done swirling. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. It smells like snickerdoodles, heavenly!

Breastfeeding Trial and Triumph!

So before we jump in to my recipe, there are a few things you should know about me...

1. Breastfeeding is the hardest, most rewarding thing I have EVER done.

2. I LOVE cookies. Love them!!!

3. I have a passion for natural solutions and taking charge of my own health.

4. I really love doing things the easy way...even if it means more work in the beginning.

So with that being said, let me introduce to you, my breastfeeding secret weapon!

I call them Breastmilk Boosting Breakfast cookies!

When I was working full time with an 8 week old baby and a hubby who worked longer hours than I did, these saved my life! Any mama knows that when you have a new baby...your focus is on them. However, mamas need good food too in order to make good milk! Take care of you too!! This is an easy way to do that! Let's Dive In!!!

What you are gonna need:

1 C. Butter

1 C. Sugar

1 C. Brown Sugar

4 Tbl. Water

2 Tbl. Flaxseed Meal

2 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 C. Flour

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Salt

3 C. Oats, or Barley Oats

2-4 Tbl. Brewers Yeast (I use closer to 4....)

Keep in mind that this is my base recipe. I add in different item for several different variations of this cookie. I love this recipe because you can do anything with it! Some of my favorites are Cran-Choco-Almond (white and milk chocolate chips, dried cranberry, and almonds-chopped), Reese's (I add milk chocolate chips, reese's chips, and 1/2 peanut butter), Tropical Paradise (Add coconut, pineapple, white chocolate chips, and i substitute vanilla extract with coconut extract), Smores (Milk chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs), etc! Use your imaginations! You can add anything you really love to eat.

Combine flax seeds and water. Let sit for 5 mins.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs 1 at a time. Stir in flax mixture and vanilla.

Add flour, yeast, soda, and salt gradually. Stir in oats and mix-ins!

Bake @ 350* for 10-12 minutes.

I get my handy-dandy cookie scoop (my favorite kitchen utensil) and make cookie dough balls that I can freeze and keep handy. This way I can just grab 2 (or 3 if I am feeling impulsive) in the morning and pop them in the toaster oven for breakfast on the way out the door. Or you can bake them all at once, just make sure to store them in the freezer. Don't forget the milk!

These little cookies are packed with tons of great things for mommies. They will help increase breast milk supply, regulate your digestive tract, and improve your mood! All great things for new mommy on the go! These are my go-to for my new mommy friends. I take them a full recipe to stick in their freezer so they can help get their supply strong from the get-go, instead of struggling like I did.

Hope you love em!

PS.  Don't forget to check out our Giveaway that's beginning in just a couple of days.

The Kitchen Mill and Whole Wheat Bread that you just can't get enough of? You Bet!

Day 7- of the 30 Days of Faves

This baby is the Kitchen Mill Wheat Grinder.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  I use it once a month and grind up a bunch of wheat at once, then freeze the wheat in freezer bags to keep those healthy oils fresh.  For anyone who loves fresh, healthy, straight from the source food, this is a dream.  You simply pour wheat in at the top, flip the switch to how fine you want the flour and let it work its magic.  There are a lot of grinders out there that you have to clean a certain way because of the natural oils in wheat corrode the parts, but not so with this one.  If you are new to the idea of wheat flour, you might be surprised to know that white flour comes from the same grain, it is just wheat flour stripped of all of the healthy nutrients so it is a cheaper alternative for companies for use in their products.  To learn more about the differences between white and wheat flour you can visit this site.

I will be doing some video clips for YouTube over the next few days for recipes that I use because I have this awesome tool.  I love that I was able to earn it for half price, and you can too-just ask how!  If you are someone who has tons of wheat for food storage without a clue of how to use them, stay tuned and I will help you learn how.  We'll start with this recipe for today!

Below is my favorite 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe that I make in my bread machine a couple times each week.  This is perfect for all of you out there who feel like you don't know how to make bread or don't think you have the time, but would love bread with out all of the yucky preservatives.  This came from my Breadman Recipe Manual.

100% Whole Wheat Bread 1 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  3/4 c

2 T Oil

2 TSugar

1 t Salt

2 1/4 c Whole Wheat Flour

1 T Vital Wheat Gluten

1 1/2 t Active Dry Yeast

or 1 t Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

100% Whole Wheat Bread 1.5 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  1 c

3 T Oil

3 T Sugar

1 1/2 t Salt

3 Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 T Vital Wheat Gluten

2 t Active Dry Yeast

or 1 1/4 Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

100% Whole Wheat Bread 2 Lb Loaf

1 Egg, room temperature plus enough water to equal  1 1/3 c

1/4 c Oil

1/4 c Sugar

2 t Salt

4 c Whole Wheat Flour

2 T Vital Wheat Gluten

1 1/2 t Active Dry Yeast

or Bread Machine/Quick Rise Yeast

Note: I do the 2 lb loaf and I also add 1 t of dough enhancer.  Many people say that wheat bread turns out dense for them.  Gluten and dough enhancer are the magic that make your bread fluffy and moist.  To learn more about why these are important you can go to this independent site.

Not ready to make the plunge for an electric wheat grinder or are you looking for one that you can use in case there was an emergency and you had 0 electricity....here's an alternative, the Grain Mill Wheat Grinder.  Please note that anyone who has used a manual wheat grinder can attest to the fact that they are a lot more work.

If you like this post, you might also like Artisan Bread in 5 minutes.

To get this or any other product at rock bottom prices that even Costco can't beat, please email me with the subject line saying Shelf Reliance Discount Page or visit www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com/home.